Celebrity Baby Blog moves from 4-column to 3-column layout
Last evening, we published a new template that condensed our 4-column design into a 3-column one by eliminating the column on the far right and widening the middle column. This will allow us to nearly double the size of images, make for better readability, and provide a less cluttered look. So far the transition has been very clean, but if something looks wonky to you, please take a screenshot and email it to us or describe what’s not right in the comments and include what operating system you use and which version of browser (such as Windows Vista, Explorer 6.0).
Please note that the larger photos will be posted moving forward, but they will still appear at their former size in all posts previous to Sunday the 24th. However, you can still click to enlarge as you have in the past. Also, we are still publishing the changes across older posts so you won’t see the 3-column layout on those pages right away.
Click Continue Reading to see what you should be seeing. Please take our poll, and let us know what you think in the comments. So far over 2,000 people have voted — 79% like it and only 7% don’t, so that’s a really good sign to us that we made the right decision!
Here’s the layout you should be seeing:
- Posted on Feb 26, 08 at 4:56PM
- Permalink
- 23 Comments
February 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
You are the best! I visit CBB more than any other celeb site.
Can’t wait to see the changes. I love bloggy renovation!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Oh I think this is going to be perfect! Thanks CBB!
February 26th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I find this much more comfortable to read.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I love the new layout. It is so much easier to read and still as great as before.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
i think there is some stuff that i personally would prefer not seeing or being made into a link or icon to save space like the popular searches-i don’t use that, do other people? maybe top 5 links of the week instead? like people’s most read stories. maybe the archives could be a link too-most of us r on here daily or get feeds when topics come up. making the left column wider would mean the recently added to posts would be less lines & take up less room. maybe all the sources & parenting links could be condensed through a link too as many readers don’t have kids as those who do.people who do use them probably bookmark the site in their favourites list after seeing it 1st time anyway.all those links are a bit of a pink blur to me sometimes LOL. i do love the site tho-it’s always interesting & go around to tell all the family what i’ve seen/learned here =)
February 27th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I love this new layout! Bigger pics. and easier to read! Good job CBB.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:14 am
A change for the better! A big thumbs up from me!
February 27th, 2008 at 7:27 am
it’s much harder to read the page now
February 27th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Obviously most of the pics on here are not professional photo shoots but the photo’s look much less clear and look grainy. Other than that I think it looks great.
Sarah’s note: It should be only the ones from Flynet that do that. Unfortunately that’s just how a lot of them look (and will on any website that downloads them).
February 27th, 2008 at 9:07 am
I second Ang’s suggestions:
- popular searches: I never use it either. Love the top 5 links suggestion
- archives: agree could also be a link. I’m on every day, multiple times a day, so rarely, if ever, access the archives. And if I need to, I usually do a search.
- sources & parenting links: I also never use them, as I don’t have kids. I understand wanting to highlight this for the many moms who do visit the site, but a link could be just as useful.
- “all those links are a bit of a pink blur to me sometimes” LOL, I totally agree!
As always, GREAT job on the site Danielle et al, and I do like the redesign!
February 27th, 2008 at 9:26 am
waaaay better! thank you!
February 27th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Never realized the site was cluttered, til now. I am loving the less cluttered look! Of course there is always room for improvements, but you can’t please everyone! Props to CBB for taking it’s readers opinions into consideration!
February 27th, 2008 at 10:30 am
It’s the best
February 27th, 2008 at 11:02 am
This is so much better. It looked too cluttered before, and the page was slower to load.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Much, much better!
Thank you. I read you everyday from Spain.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
The layout is fine either way but I personally feel that this site is turning into all ads. I used to enjoy reading it but now it is flooded with advertising in the midst of the stories. I understand that you make money from this but it isn’t as enjoyable for me as it once was.
Sarah’s note: The rare advertising in the middle column is always marked Sponsor, and there aren’t many of them. Are you talking about our fashion and gear features or contests, maybe? Sometimes, when you click an individual post, there is an ad between the post and the comments section, but that’s been there for over a year. Or you mean the stuff on the sides? Not trying to be a pain, just confused.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Okay, to be brutally honest, to me, it still looks just as cluttered and difficult to read as it did before. The page is still WAY too busy. Too much text, too many ads. This site still loads so much more slowly than any site I can remember visiting, and I visit a lot of graphic-intensive sites. Personally, in all the time I’ve read this site, I have never once clicked on a single link or ad in any of the sidebars – it’s all totally useless to me, and just ends up being really intrusive.
I suppose it’s partly a personal thing – I HATE the color pink, especially fluorescent pink, and so much of it gives me a headache. I prefer subtlety, not glaring, in-your-face PAY-ATTENTION-TO-ME colors and graphics. Sometimes it feels like it’s barely one step above a Myspace page (which is a bad thing, in case it’s not clear).
I think you’d really benefit from having a professional web designer redo the page. Good web design is not that hard to come by.
(And while we’re at it, the site could really also use a professional editor. I can’t even tell you how often I find not just typos, but grammatical mistakes and even egregious factual errors – like getting names wrong even when the articles you’re quoting from have them correctly. That is something that should not be happening on an allegedly professional website.)
February 27th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Just wanted to let you know that on perezhilton there is a picture of people magazine cover with Harlow Madden on it.
February 27th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Stacey, if you download Firefox and then download the ad-blocker ad-on you will be able to get rid of virtually all of the ads. That program works amazingly well.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I love the new layout as the middle column (news/pictures, etc.) is pretty much all I ever looked at anyways. Being a person who does not have any children, the advertisements/sponsors and links to other sites are not what I’m interested in. I don’t mind them, but I do ignore them.
)
February 28th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
it feels less cluttered, and i’m hoping the new look will make it quicker to load. i love CBB and come on a lot, but it would often take so long to load that i’d get really frustrated.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:03 am
also it takes more time to download page, especially photos
Sarah’s note: We hope having just 10-20 posts per page will help with that. Let us know if you see a difference or if it’s still a big issue.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I agree with Stacey.
The might not be advertisements like the banner on the top of the page but there are so many posts about this brand and that brand clothing, bags etc. Sometimes there are several posts like this in a row and it can get irritating. They are also almost always over the top positive so they certainly feel like advertisements to me.
It would be nice if you could cut down on posts like this.
Note from Danielle: Since we only write about and recommend products we like, they are going to be extremely positive. We don’t waste space on products we think are so-so.
A future redesign will incorporate the fashion and gear features more subtley but right now we are limited by the confines of a typical blog design.